Jealous God (Ex. 20:5; 34:14) (Part 5)

Conclusion: (Part 2)

What are you to do with the truth that God is jealous? Here are three assessments.

• Assessment #1 > Are you committed or devoted?
• It is possible to be committed to Jesus but not be devoted.
• Commitment includes formality, habit and duty.
• Devotion includes zeal, delight and a willingness to sacrifice.
• When you go to church, you are committed; when you verbally and unashamedly heap lavish praise on Jesus, you are devoted.
• When you put into the offering the same token ten you've given the past twenty years, you're committed; when you tithe on the fullness of all your increase – paycheck, pension, social security, dividend income, inheritance, etc. – you are devoted.
• When you show up every now and then to do something to help the church, you are committed; when you do this week in and week out because you love God and love people, you are devoted.
• When you open the Bible each morning to read the assigned chapters, you are committed; when you discover Jesus in your reading and delight in Him and yield to something specific He asks, you are devoted.
• Assessment #2 > Are you living out of reputation or reality?
• The Church at Sardis > Rev. 3:1 > “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘ I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”
• Reputation is what other people say about you.
• Reality is what God knows is true about you.
• In other words, are you doing a superb job fooling everyone into believing that you're devoted when you know you're not?
• If that's you, I don't want you to get mad and not come back. I don't want you to continue living with the tension by pretending.
• Return to the love that you first had for Jesus (Rev. 2:4).
• Assessment #3 > Are you “all in” when it comes to serving and loving Jesus?
• Mk. 12:28-31 > Love for God will spill over into love for people.
• Love the Lord your God with all your heart (desire).
• Love the Lord your God with all your soul (emotion, will).
• Love the Lord your God with all your mind (intellect, thoughts).
• Love the Lord your God with all your strength (effort, energy).

Jealous God (Ex. 20:5; 34:14) (Part 4)

Conclusion: (Part 1)

“God is not jealous like an insecure employer who fears that his employees might get lured away by a better salary elsewhere. God's jealousy is not the reflex of weakness or fear. Instead God is jealous like a powerful and merciful king who takes a peasant girl from a life of shame, forgives her, marries her, and gives her not the chores of a slave, but the privileges of a wife – a queen. His jealousy does not rise from fear or weakness but from a holy indignation at having his honor and power and mercy scorned by the faithlessness of a fickle spouse.”¹ 

“O, if Thou car'st not whom I love

  Alas, Thou lov'st not me.”² 

1Piper, John. “The Lord Whose Name Is Jealous.” http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-lord-whose-name-is-jealous (accessed 8-23-16)

2Donne, John. Holy Sonnets.  

Jealous God (Ex. 20:5; 34:14) (Part 3)

2. DEMAND OF GOD'S JEALOUSY

ILLUSTRATION – Emily Litella

• “Some will remember this elderly, hard-of-hearing character played by Gilda Radner on "Saturday Night Live" back in the 1980s. Emily was constantly ranting about one cause or another, based strictly upon her misunderstanding of a word: 'What is all this fuss I hear about the Supreme Court decision on a deaf penalty? It's terrible! Deaf people have enough problems as it is!' Similarly, she would take off on the Eagle (Equal) Rights Amendment, conserving our natural racehorses (resources), youth in Asia (euthanasia), and sax and violins (sex and violence) on TV. When corrected at the end of her tirade, Emily would smile sweetly and say, 'Never mind.'”¹
• Emily was a master of mishearing, misinformation and misinterpretation. She assigned meaning to that which she didn't understand.
• When it comes to God's jealousy, I don't want you to pull an Emily Litella by misunderstanding it.

EXPLANATION

• You must understand that God's jealousy demands entire, exclusive devotion.²
• Read Ex. 24:14; Deut. 4:24; 32:16, 21; Josh. 24:19; Psa. 78:58; 1 Cor. 10:22.

To say that God is jealous means “that he demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and He will vindicate His claim by stern action against them if they betray His love by unfaithfulness.”³

APPLICATION

• The only way you can be comfortable with God's jealousy is to inspect your heart for idols. Inspect it regularly.
• “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 Jn. 5:21).
• Quote: “Oh! It is a marvel that God hath not dashed the world to pieces with thunderbolts, when we recollect that even to this day millions of men have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. With what unutterable contempt must the living God look down upon those idols which are the work of man's hands . . .”⁴

1Coppenger, Mark. “Oprah & A Jealous God.” http://www.bpnews.net/28150/oprah-and-a-jealous-god (accessed 8-23-16)

2Youngblood, Ronald F. Exodus. Everyman's Bible Commentary. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1983. p. 96.

3Packer, J. I. Knowing God. 20^th Anniversary Edition. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973. p. 171.

4Spurgeon, Charles Haddon.. “A Jealous God.” This is a sermon he preached on March 29, 1863.

Jealous God (Ex. 20:5; 34:14) (Part 2)

1. DEFINITION OF GOD'S JEALOUSY

EXPLANATION

• God's jealousy is the action He takes because of the feeling He gets when He knows your heart is straying from Him.
• Hebrew – qanna' – jealous – “a consuming single-minded pursuit of a good end . . . This positive usage is frequently associated with the marriage relationship where a jealousy for the exclusiveness of the relationship is the necessary condition of its permanence . . .”¹
• Quote: “The interesting thing about this word is that it is only used in reference to God. In no instance is the word qanna' used to describe human jealousy. The reason that God is 'jealous' is because He wants people to choose to love Him.”²
• The basic meaning of qanna' is 'to become dark red', indicating that passion or intensity is increasing.  Don't get the idea, though, that God is an out-of-control Judge Who can't wait to vent His displeasure.  Read Zeph. 3:17; Psa. 86:15; Jer. 9:24.

ILLUSTRATION

• This past week was move-in week at area colleges and universities. After parents helped their adult children carry all those boxes into the dorms, the time came when the lugging was over and room setup was done. Then it was time for “the talk” – the final chance to list the do's and dont's for successful college life.
• Don't go to parties, don't smoke, don't drink.
• Don't drink and drive; don't text and drive.
• Be picky about whom you date. Remember that dating is not why you're here.
• Get enough sleep and make sure to put some green stuff on your plate. Man does not live on cold pizza alone.
• Study hard. If you don't, I'm not sending you any more money.
• Get connected with a local church and find some Christian friends.
• Pastor Mark Adams, in his sermon titled “Why Study The Ten Commandments”, asks:
• Quote: “Now did these parents hand down these rules because they wanted to limit their children's freedom and prevent them from having any fun? No, of course not. They gave their children their own ten or twenty or thirty 'commandments' because they love them and want them to be happy and healthy and safe. They laid down the law because they wanted to protect them from the raving effects of sin.”³
• The parents were jealous for their children's well-being.
• In both verses for today, the context is the Ten Commandments.
• The Ten Commandments is God's 'talk' to His people as they embark upon their new freedom after 4oo+ years of slavery. God “laid down the Law” because He wanted to protect His people from the ravaging effects of sin.
• In other words God is jealous for His people.

APPLICATION

• When you read that God is jealous, does that cause you concern or bring you comfort?
• Why does it cause you concern?
• Why does it bring you comfort?

1Milne, B. A. “Jealousy.” New Bible Dictionary. Second edition. Ed. J. D. Douglas et al. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1987 (4^th reprint). p. 553.

2Deem, Rich. “If God Is Jealous, Doesn't That Make him The Divine Hypocrite?” http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/jealous_god.html (accessed 8-23-16)

3Http://www.redlandbaptist.org/sermon/why-study-the-ten-commandments/ (accessed 5-5-16)

Jealous God (Ex. 20:5; 34:14) (Part 1)

Introduction:

When you think of God's description, names, or attributes, what comes to mind? Did the word 'jealous' make it onto your list? Why not? The word 'jealous' has a bad ring in our ears. From our experience, we associate the word 'jealous' with not-so-nice results. For example, we associate jealousy with Cain's murder of his brother, Abel.

“ . . . 'jealousy' means something much different to God than it might mean to you or me. It's certainly not flavored by pettiness, narrowness, selfishness or insecurity, as our 'jealousy' might be.”¹

How, then, is God 'jealous'?

“God is jealous in the sense that He will not accept being merely added to” [one's] “life. He insists on being supreme . . .”²

• Illustration: God is not a Post-It Note to be conveniently re-positioned, as you manage your life by rearranging life's responsibilities and realms. One Post-It note reads “career” and a second “family.” Another note says “sexuality” while a different note contains the word “finances.” You rearrange the notes at will to suit your purposes and plans. You don't discard God; you merely stick Him somewhere else for the time being.
• Before Post-It Notes, we had a device that looked like a long metal toothpick protruding upward from a stable base. In order not to lose important scraps or memos, we pierced them at the top of the "toothpick" and then pulled them down. To say that God is Supreme is to allow Him to pierce through every area of your life. According to Colossians 3:4, God isn't part of your life; He is your life.

1Mehl, Ron. The Tender Commandments. Sister, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1998. p. 71.

2Www.enduringword.com re: Ex. 20:5 (accessed 8-23-16)